Devin Logan Silver Medal

Meet the woman who nabbed the first silver for Team USA in Sochi

8 Things You Didn't Know About Freestyle Skier (and Olympic Silver Medalist!) Devin LoganMeet the woman who nabbed the first silver for Team USA in Sochi

NBC Olympics / USOC

Devin Logan, 20, made history in the very first women's ski slopestyle competition. Here, she explains what makes freestyle skiing so exciting. Come girl-crush with us:

I don’t feel like a pioneer... There were many others in front of me that have definitely pioneered our sport, made it what it is today. I’m just along for the ride. Hopefully I can make my way into history books and hopefully be a part of that pioneer group in a couple more years. [ED NOTE: Sorry to spoil it for for you, Devin, but you’re officially in the books.]

Freeskiing is a fast progressing sport… A couple years ago it was just one flip, and now there’s doubles and triples. It’s all a bunch of building blocks, and I have no idea when it’s going to stop. All these younger kids are coming up in the ski world; they want to be just as good as any of us, so they’re pushing it even harder and nipping at your tails. That’s what makes it interesting and extreme—it’s never the same jump after jump. People look at it in different ways, and get inspiration from what everyone’s doing around them. (Related: The Winter Sport That Gives You Joy)

The nerves go away after all the years... I’ve been competing since I was 6 years old and skiing since I was 2 years old. But it’s still fun—you have two runs to put down your best run ever and hopefully land on the podium. The feeling when you first land a trick—the adrenaline rush, shaky legs—it’s an indescribable feeling that I want to feel every day. It keeps me pushing the limits, flipping and spinning, and hopefully landing on my feet to feel that feeling again.

It’s a lot of muscle memory… It takes a lot of repetitions to make it look that easy. There’s a lot of training and hard work to make sure we know where we are in the air so we don’t hurt ourselves. We learn these tricks first on trampolines, then take them to water ramps. In the last year, we’ve started using more airbags—so you can try new tricks and not be afraid to fall. They’re literally huge airbags (like what they’d use with stunt doubles jumping off buildings) and they’ll cut a halfpipe wall so you can land in it. (Related: 10 Next-Level Training Tips from Team USA Athletes)

It’s disappointing when you don’t perform at your best… My first year at X-Games I was so excited, but I ended up getting last. I was bummed. I could’ve won and made a whole big debut. At the same time, I thought, “OK, that’s the pressure of a big competition. These veterans have been here for a while, they know how to act.” At the end of the day, I try to take all the good things out of it, learn from my mistakes, and then move on. It can’t be your day every day.

Coming back tested my patience… I blew out my knee—tore my ACL and meniscus, and had two microfractures. It was the first major injury to take me off the slopes. Sitting around doing nothing really was not good for me, so when I was able to get off my crutches, I did some judging to stay active in the ski community. I got to look at everything from a new, different perspective; it’s really helped my skiing. Knowing the Olympics were coming up, I didn’t want to rush anything; I knew I had some time, so I took it really slow—I want to be at the top of my game when it comes down to it. [ED NOTE: Mission accomplished.] (Related: The Sports Injury Women Are Most Likely to Get)

The best advice my mom gave me… is don’t forget where I came from. She’s good at keeping me levelheaded and telling me my head’s getting too big. She’ll say “Remember this time when you were this age, and your brother beat you up?” She always brings me back to earth. It’s nice to have your family put you in place again. It helps me because I still think of myself as Devin from Mount Snow Vermont, the 12-year-old trying to ski like my brothers. It’s one of those things that brings me down to earth. On competition day—I know from competing since I was younger—you have good days, bad days; it’s a judged sport. If you don’t like it, go race for time.

I got this tattoo maybe two summers ago... It’s my fantasy mountain covered in fog and I have six snowflakes for my family members, they’re all different because no snowflake’s the same. It says, “Don’t fear the journey”—which is my take on ‘roll with what life gives you and don’t be afraid of what’s coming.’